Inventor Sir James Dyson tops Sunday Times Rich List

British inventor Sir James Dyson has topped the Sunday Times Rich List for the first time.

Sir James Dyson has topped the Sunday Times Rich List for the first time.

Sir James Dyson

The 73-year-old inventor - who initially made his fortune thanks to the bag-less vacuum cleaner - has managed to top the list of Britain's richest people after seeing his wealth increase by as much as £3.6 billion over a 12-month period.

At one stage in his life, Dyson owed his bank nearly £1 million.

However, he soon became Britain's best-selling vacuum cleaner, and hasn't looked back in the subsequent years.

Dyson has now replaced Indian-born businessmen Sri and Gopi Hinduja at the top of the list, with the fall in the overall wealth of the UK's richest people being linked to the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, Dyson recently admitted he spent £500 million of his own money on an electric vehicle that's already been cancelled.

The billionaire said that the SUV-style vehicle, which was meant to rival Tesla's electric vehicles, would have had a 600-mile range per charge.

But he scrapped the project because it wasn't commercially viable.

Speaking to the Times newspaper, he reflected: "There's huge sadness and disappointment.

"Ours is a life of risk and of failure. We try things and they fail. Life isn't easy."